Conquest: The English Kingdom of France 1417-1450

For thirty dramatic years, England ruled a great swath of France at the point of the sword - an all-but-forgotten episode in the Hundred Years' War that Juliet Barker brings to vivid life in "Conquest". Following Agincourt, Henry V's second invasion of France in 1417 launched a campaign that would place the crown of France on an English head. Buoyed by conquest, the English army seemed invincible. By the time of Henry's premature death in 1422, nearly all of northern France lay in his hands and the Valois heir to the throne had been disinherited. Only the appearance of a visionary peasant girl who claimed divine guidance, Joan of Arc, was able to halt the English advance, but not for long. Just six months after her death, Henry's young son was crowned in Paris as the first-and last-English king of France. Henry VI's kingdom endured for twenty years, but when he came of age he was not the leader his father had been. The dauphin whom Joan had crowned Charles VII would finally drive the English out of France. Barker recounts these stirring events - the epic battles and sieges, plots and betrayals - through a kaleidoscope of characters from John Talbot, the "English Achilles," and John, duke of Bedford, regent of France, to brutal mercenaries, opportunistic freebooters, resourceful spies, and lovers torn apart by the conflict.

About the Author :
Juliet Barker is the author of Agincourt: Henry V and the Battle That Made England, and one of Britain's most distinguished literary biographers and medievalists.

Review :
England's little-studied conquest of France during the Hundred Years War is absorbingly recounted by Barker...With her crisp storytelling and meticulous historical research, Barker vividly narrates a tale of political intrigue and military strategy that reveals power-hungry English kings and the fierce defense of France by one of its most famous heroines. Publishers Weekly 20111212 Barker delves deeply into the world of the mentally disturbed Henry VI of England, the indecisive French dauphin who would become Charles VII, and the saintly Maid of Orleans, Joan of Arc. She has produced a first-rate, fluid account of this little-understood period in European history. -- Brian Odom Library Journal 20120201 Barker weaves strands of contemporary evidence into a fluent account of a complex but fascinating era. There is a steady succession of treaties, marriages, murders, massacres, famines, sieges, battles and skirmishes, but Barker has an eye for the kind of detail that can illuminate the mindset of the long-dead. -- Stephen Brumwell Wall Street Journal 20120307 [A] lucid guide to this very complicated period...Barker's narrative combines high drama and low humor. It could be argued that both the origin and end of the English Kingdom of France was a dynastic comedy of errors...Barker is both learned and lucid in bringing alive the characters, the struggle and the ultimate futility of it all. -- Aram Bakshian, Jr. Washington Times 20120608 Barker weaves together the threads of an extremely complicated story, involving infighting among English notables for positions in France, the major roles of Burgundians (creating essentially a French civil war) and Scots in the fighting, and the double-dealing of many French leaders. The continuous fighting caused enormous destruction and population loss, especially in Normandy, and very few participants gained honor in the struggle, although Charles VII comes across here as a more effective leader than how he is usually portrayed. Highly detailed with valuable information on the huge human and financial resources England invested during the war's final decades, the book is nonetheless engaging and well written. -- F. J. Baumgartner Choice 20120801